Tony Abbott has fired the first shots in his next confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Australia's Prime Minister has taken a dig at Russia's economic troubles ahead of Mr Putin's arrival at the G20 summit.

"Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a super power for peace and freedom and prosperity.

"Trying to be a super power for ideas and for values, instead of trying to recreate the lost glories of Czarism or the old Soviet Union."